Snippets: Graphs, PostGIS, BIOS bugs and UNIX

Graph Edited: The Directed Graph Editor is a rather stylish implementation of a graph editor in JavaScript ising the D3 library. It’s part of a more extensive project, the Modal Logic Playground published under an MIT licence.

PostGIS 2.1.0: For those who like their databases geographically aware, the latest 2.1.0 update to PostGIS, which brings spatial and geographic objects to PostgreSQL, has been announced. The update’s headline features are performance improvements and a wide range of new or enhanced functions. PostGIS is published under the GPLv2.

Dell BIOS Bug: US-CERT has released an advisory which warns that buffer overflows can affect the Dell BIOS in older laptops and workstations. The overflow can be used in such a way that an unsigned BIOS – potentially with malware or rootkit support – could be installed. The advisory lists all known affected models.

UNIX history: This mirror copy, archived by Rob Landley, appears to be the only copy of a fine Byte article “Unix at 25” by Peter Salus. The contention is that what Unix pioneered was sharing and collaboration in operating system development.